Summer opportunities for grad students and postdocs

Stanford is offering numerous opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to hone their skills, make connections and hear from thought-provoking speakers this summer.

Departments across campus, including the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE), the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA), University IT, BEAM, Stanford Career Education and BioSci Careers will host workshops, accelerated classes, guest speaker events and other opportunities designed to help students and researchers stay engaged and productive.

“This summer, Stanford is offering many great opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars,” noted Stacey F. Bent, vice provost for graduate education and postdoctoral affairs. “If they have the bandwidth, I encourage students and postdocs to engage with the campus community and take advantage of opportunities to improve their academic and professional skills through these programs.”

All the programs listed below will take place online this summer due to social distancing requirements. Some have application or registration deadlines. For further details about each event or program, contact the host organization.

Summer opportunities

VPGE’s annual Stanford Graduate Summer Institute (SGSI) is a collection of free, accelerated, week-long courses held two weeks before autumn quarter. In these immersive courses, grad students and postdocs can explore new subjects, experiment with new ideas and meet new people. Courses include Designing the Professional: Addressing the question, “Once I get my degree, how do I get a life?”, which applies the innovation principles of design thinking to designing a life after leaving Stanford. This course begins Monday, Aug. 31.

SGSI also includes Energy@Stanford & SLAC: Energy Research for the 21st Century. In this three-day course, students broaden their understanding of energy, compete in the En-ROADS team challenge, meet Silicon Valley energy entrepreneurs and visit Stanford’s state-of-the-art Central Energy Facility. The course starts Monday, Aug. 31. View all SGSI course offerings here.

Michael Tubbs, mayor of Stocton, CA, and Bonny Simms, president of Jetblue Technology Ventures, are among the speakers participating in the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series this summer. (Image credit: Courtesy Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders)

In August, OPA will host a Teaching Workshop for Postdocs designed to enhance participants’ versatility as teachers. The program covers numerous topics, including learning climate, communication of goals and evaluation of learners. The workshop takes place Aug. 4–7 and attendance is required for all four days. Interested postdocs can register here.

OPA has also designed a pair of interactive workshops with Jessica Notini, a lecturer at Stanford Law School. These workshops will empower trainees to advocate for their needs at a time when access to resources is limited and competing needs are widespread. Participants will learn collaborative negotiation and critical conversation skills and build a foundation for confident self-advocacy. Be Your Own Advocate: Foundations for Collaborative Negotiation will take place July 10 and Aug. 13. Challenging Conversations will take place July 13 and Aug. 14. (Registration for the August workshops will open on July 14.)

The Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering (ICME) will host its Summer Workshops 2020 on Zoom. These day-long workshops cover numerous topics, including machine learning, high-performance computing, data visualization in Tableau and Python. The workshops take place between Aug. 17–22. Registration is now open.

Students and postdocs interested in improving their technology skills might consider enrolling in Technology Training sessions, offered by VPGE and University IT. In these free, virtual, instruction-led sessions, participants learn current and emerging technologies and skills essential for their research, professional development and career preparation. There are three training sessions covering different topics. Each session will last three hours and participants can sign up for one, two or all three sessions.

Preparation and Practice: Scientific Communication & Media is a course offered by BioSci Careers. Trainees in this course obtain a basic understanding of the publishing process, effective writing technique, an overview of opportunities in the communications field and social media promotion. The class ends with a networking panel featuring alumni in working communications. The class is for STEM postdocs, MDs, PhDs and MS students and registration is limited to 25 students. Sign up on Handshake.

Do you enjoy being at a university, but not sure you want to be a professor? BEAM’s PhD Pathways series is an off-shoot of its annual day-long PhD Pathways conference, which was canceled this year due to the pandemic. The series teaches participants about the wide range of roles and offices that allow for continued engagement with education, research, students and faculty, while also learning to apply the skills and knowledge you acquired in grad school. The series consists of five panel events featuring people from a variety of disciplines discussing topics such as higher-ed administrative roles, education technology, freelancing and entrepreneurship and more. The first event is July 15. Further details, including registration information, is available on Handshake.

Need help writing your dissertation? The Hume Dissertation Boot Camp is a free program that helps graduate students make serious progress on a dissertation, master’s thesis or other graduate writing project. The program helps students learn to write more productively by providing writing regimens and routines, expert writing consultants, motivation and support, and snacks and supplies. Registration for Summer Camp 3 opens July 6 and for Summer Camp 4 on Aug. 3.

This summer, the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series is bringing numerous speakers to the Stanford community. In these virtual and candid discussions, speakers discuss their entrepreneurial journey and share personal stories of the secrets and setbacks behind their success. Upcoming speakers include alums Bonny Simi, president of JetBlue Technology Ventures, on July 8, and Michael Tubbs, mayor of Stockton, California, on Aug. 12. Events occur every Wednesday. See the summer line-up of speakers here.

For more upcoming events and programs, visit VPGE and OPA’s events pages, as well as the main Stanford events calendar.